The King Held In The
Galleries
"The king is held in the galleries"
Canticles 7:5
Our Blessed Lord Jesus, who is represented under the
picture of a Bridegroom in this book, from the fourth verse of the preceding
chapter, breaks out in commendation of his spouse and bride, expressing the
love of his heart toward her in many warm and heart-felt expressions; and his
discourse is continued to the 10th verse of this chapter; where we find him
overflowing in commendation of his church in several particulars. He commends
her from her spiritual birth and pedigree, calling her a prince's daughter,
ver. 1. The saints of God are royally descended; by their second birth they are
sprung of "the Ancient of days;" "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
Again; he commends her for the
beauty of holiness shining in her walk and conversation: "How beautiful are thy
feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!" Holiness is the attire of the bride of
Christ; "She is arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which is the
righteousness of saints." But time will not allow me to explain the several
particulars of her commendation.
The words of my text are an abrupt
sentence; in which he expresses the wonderful complacency which he took in her
society, and the overpowering influence that her faith and his faithfulness,
his love, and her loveliness, had to make him stay and abide in her company:
The King is held in the galleries. In which words we may notice these
particulars:
1. Christ's character and office; he is a person of royal
dignity, no less than a king, and the King by way of eminency. The church of
God acknowledges no other king but Christ; for it is he whom God the Father has
set to rule upon the holy hill of Zion: and it is a manifest usurpation of
Christ's prerogative, for pope, prelate, or potentate, to usurp a sovereignty
and headship over the church of Christ; an indignity which he will not suffer
to pass without suitable punishment. He here claims himself to be the King of
Zion, and will maintain the dignity of his crown against all that dare invade
it.
2. In these words we have the place of converse between Christ and his
blessed spouse and bride; it is in the galleries. It is the same word in the
original which we have, Cant. 1:17: "The beams of our house are cedar, and our
rafters, or galleries, of fir." Where, by galleries, in both places, according
to the judicious Durham, we are to understand the ordinances of the gospel, in
which Christ and his people to tryst and keep company one with another. Why
gospel ordinances are thus signified, I may show more particularly afterwards.
3. We have the sweet constraint that this royal Bridegroom was under to
tarry in the galleries with his spouse: he here owns that he was held, or
bound, as the word signifies, in the galleries. Her faith and love laid him
under a voluntary arrest to tarry with her; like the disciples going to Emmaus,
Luke 24:29: "She constrained him to abide with her." An expression much like
this we have, Cant. 3:4. After a weary night of desertion, and much wearisome
inquiry, she at length meets her beloved, and therupon she cries out, "I held
him, and would not let him go."
OBSERVE, "That Christ, the blessed King of
Zion, condescends sometimes to be held and detained by his people in the
galleries of gospel ordinances. The King is held in the galleries."
I. I
will give some account of this royal King.
II. Of the galleries of the
King.
III. Of this holding of the King in the galleries.
IV. Apply. I.
The first thing proposed is, to give some account of this royal King. But alas!
"Who can declare his generation?" All I shall do, is only 1. To prove that he
is a King. 2. That he is the King by way of eminence and excellence. First,
that he is a King, appears from these particulars:
1. From the Father's
designation and ordination. From all eternity the Father designed and ordained
this dignity for him as our Mediator: for I do not now speak of his natural and
essential, but of his dispensatory or mediatory kingdom: "I have set my King
upon my holy hill of Zion," Psal. 2:6; and Psal. 89:27: "I will make him my
first-born, higher than the kings of the earth."
2. It appears from the
prophecies that went of him before his actual manifestation in our nature. It
was prophesied that the sceptre of Judah should terminate in him, Gen. 49:10;
that he should succeed David, and sit upon the throne, Luke 1:32, 33, compared
with Psal. 132:11: "The Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father
David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom
there shall be no end;" Is. 9:6; and "the government shall be upon his
shoulder."
3. It appears from the types and shadows that prefigured him. He
was typified by Melchizedek, who is called "the King of righteousness, and the
King of peace." He was typified by David, and frequently called by the name of
David in the psalms and prophets: Hos. 3:5: "The children of Israel shall
return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king." He was typified by
Solomon, and by his name he is commonly called in this book of the Song.
4.
It appears from the princely titles that are given him in scripture. He is
called "the Prince of peace, the King of righteousness, and the King of kings
and Lord of lords;" and it is God the Father's will, that "every one should
confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord."
5. It appears from the princely
prerogatives and royalties that are assigned him by his Father. He has anointed
him to be King with an incomparable oil, even "with the oil of gladness; I have
found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him," Psal. 89:20. He
has installed him in the government with the solemnity of an open proclamation
from heaven, by "the voice which came from the excellent glory, This is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." He has put a sceptre of
righteousness, and a rod of iron, in his hand, by which he is enabled to defend
his subjects, destroy his enemies, and "break them in pieces as a potter's
vessel." He has given him ambassadors to negotiate the affairs of his kingdom:
"He gave some, apostles: and some, prophets: and some, evangelists: and some,
pastors and teachers: for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." He has given him vast
territories, even "the Heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of
the earth for his possession: his dominion reaches from sea to sea, and from
the river to the ends of the earth." It extends not only to the outward, but
likewise to the inward man. He has a legislative authority, he can make and
explain, and abrogate laws at his pleasure. And when his laws are broken, he
has the power of acquiting or condemning committed to him: "For the Father
judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Thus, you see he
is a King.
Secondly, As he is a King, so he is the King by way of eminence
and excellence. And this will be abundantly clear, if we consider, 1. That he
is the King eternal, 1 Tim. 1:17: "the everlasting Father," or, "the Father of
eternity," Is. 9:6. Other kings are but of yesterday, mere upstarts, and, like
a gourd, their glory withers in a night. But here is a King that is "from
everlasting to everlasting," the true "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
ending." Mic. 5:2. This "ruler in Israel, his goings forth were from of old,
from everlasting." And his throne is so firmly established, that it shall stand
through all periods of time, yea, through the endless years of eternity: Psal.
45:6: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever."
2. He is called the King
immortal, 1 Tim. 1:17. In the last chapter of the same epistle, "He only hath
immortality." The potentates of the earth are but kings of clay; they and their
thrones have their "foundations in the dust, and to dust they shall return."
Death, the king of terrors, has raised his trophies of victory over the most
renowned potentates: they who made the world to tremble with their sword, have
been at last vanquished by death. But here is a King that never dies. It is
true, death did once, by his own consent, obtain a seeming victory over him;
but in that victory death itself was plagued, and the grave destroyed, Hos
13:14. Yea, "it was not possible that he should be held in the bonds of death:"
no, he vanquished death in his own territories, and returned carrying the spoil
of his enemy along with him, making open proclamation of the victory which he
had gained to all his friends for their encouragement: Rev. 1:18: "I am he that
was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore; and have the keys of hell and of
death."
3. He is the King invisible. Some eastern princes were seldom seen
by their subjects, to beget the greater reverence and estimation among their
subjects. But this was only an affectation of grandeur. Christ, the King of
Zion, is indeed visible to the eye of faith by the saints militant, and visible
to the eye of sense by the saints triumphant; however, the thousand thousandth
part of his divine glory can never be seen or searched out by any created
understanding; for "he dwells in the light which no man can approach unto, whom
no man hath seen nor can see," 1 Tim. 6:16. He is an unseen and unknown Christ
by the greatest part of the world, as to his worth and excellency. And as to
his corporeal presence, he is invisible by us in this state of mortality: for
the heaven must contain him, "until the times of restitution of all things;"
and then, indeed, "every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him."
4. He is the only blessed and happy King, 1 Tim. 6:15: "the blessed and
only Potentate." The crowns of other princes have their thorns, which make them
to sit uneasy upon their heads; and the toil and trouble of government is
sometimes so great, that the very beggar on the dunghill is happier in some
respects than the king upon the throne. But Zion's King is in every respect
happy and blessed. He is the darling of heaven and earth, the delight of his
Father, and "the Desire of all nations." His crown does not totter, his
subjects do not rebel; he is happy in them, and they in him: "Men shall be
blessed in him; and all nations shall call him blessed."
5. He is the
absolute and universal King. His kingdom is universal in respect of all
persons; the highest potentate, as well as the meanest beggar, are the subjects
of his empire. This is his royal "name written on his vesture, and on his
thigh, the King of kings, and Lord of lords," Rev. 19:16. Whenever he will, he
casts the mighty out of their seats, and advances them of low degree; sets the
beggar on the throne, and causes the king to sit on the dunghill: "He cuts off
the spirit of princes, and is terrible to the kings of the earth." Again; his
government is universal in respect of all places. We read of several potentates
who have grasped at universal monarchy: but never any of them attained it,
though, indeed, they extended their dominions far and wide. But here is a King
whose empire reaches to heaven, earth, and hell. Again; it is universal in
respect of all times: "He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of
his kingdom there shall be no end."
I might tell you farther, to illustrate
the eminency of this King, that he is the King of glory, the almighty King, the
King of saints, the King of nations. But from what has been said, we may see
that he is a King of incomparable excellence, and what an honour it is to be
with him, and to holy him in the galleries. But I go on to,
II. The second
thing proposed, which was to speak a little of the galleries in which this
royal King trysts and keeps company with his people. We read, Song 1:4, of the
chambers of the King; and, chap. 2:4, of the King's banqueting-house, or
cellars of wine, into which the spouse had been brought: the same is called
here the galleries of the King. That is to say, these ordinances in which the
Lord Jesus reveals himself to his people in the house of their pilgrimage. Here
I only, 1. Mention a few of these galleries. 2. Inquire why ordinances are
compared to galleries.
First, I will only mention these few
galleries. 1. There is the secret gallery of meditation, in which David found
God's "loving kindness to be better than life," and had his "soul satisfied as
with marrow and fatness." 2. There is the gallery of prayer, in which Jacob
wrestled with the angel of the covenant, and, like a prince, prevailed for the
blessing. 3. There is a gallery of reading of the scriptures, in which the
Ethiopian eunuch got such a discovery of the promised Messiah, as made him "go
on his way rejoicing." 4. There is a gallery of Christian converse about
soul-matters; in which the disciples going to Emmaus had such a meetin gwith
Christ, as made "their hearts burn within them." 5. There is the gallery of
preaching, or of hearing of the word preached; "by the foolishness of which God
saveth them that believed." Here it was that Lydia's heart was opened. And, 6.
The sacraments of the New Testament, baptism and the Lord's supper, are
galleries in which Zion's King displays his glory before his people. The last
of these is, by way of eminence, called the communion; not only because in it
the people of God have communion one with another, but because in it they have
"fellowship with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ."
Secondly, As to the second thing here, why are these ordinances
compared to galleries? I answer, 1. Galleries are magnificent apartments of
royal and stately buildings. So there is a divine magnificence in the
ordinances of the gospel, when countenanced with the presence of the great
Master of assemblies. It is true, they appear mean and contemptible in the eyes
of a profane world, who are strangers to the power of godliness; but the man
"who has his senses spiritually exercised to discern good and evil," sees a
divine greatness and magnificence in them, suitable to the state and royalty of
"the Prince of the kings of the earth." And when the man is admitted to see the
power and glory of God in them, he cannot but agree with Jacob, saying, "This
is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven," Gen.
28:17.
2. Galleries are lightsome and pleasant apartments. O how pleasant
and lightsome are ordinances to a gracious soul! Let a child of God be where he
will, he reckons it but "a dry and thirsty land, where no water is," if he be
not admitted to the galleries of ordinances, Psal. 63:1, 2. See how the same
holy man expresses his delight in ordinances, Psal. 84:1: "How amiable are thy
tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!" I am sure this will be the language of every
soul that has been in the galleries with the King this day.
3. Galleries
are places of walk and converse, as is plain from Ezek. 41:15. When a king, or
great man designs to be familiar with his friend, he will take a turn with him
in the galleries. So it is in gospel-ordinances that Christ walks, and
converses with his people. Here it is that he gives them audience, allows them
to be free and familiar with him, draws aside the veil, communicates the
secrets of his covenant, and mysteries of his kingdom, which are hid from the
wise and prudent of the world.
4. Galleries are places of public feasting
and entertainment of friends. So it is in the mount of gospel-ordinances that
the Lord has provided for his people, "a feast of fat things, a feast of wines
on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."
Here it is that Christ says to his people, "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O beloved." Thus, I have given you some account of the galleries of
the King.
III. The third thing proposed was, to speak of the holding of the
King in the gal1eries; which is what I had principally in view. And here I will
show what this holding of Christ supposes and implies, both on the believer's
part and on Christ's part. First, What does it suppose and imply on the
believer's part? 1. It necessarily supposes a meeting with Christ in the
galleries; for no person can hold that which they never had. To you that never
knew what it was to enjoy communion with Christ in his ordinances, this
doctrine is a hidden mystery.
2. It supposes a high esteem of Christ, a
love to, and liking of his company. We are at no pains to hold those for whose
company we care not; but when we are pressing with a friend to stay with us, it
says that we value his company. Sirs, there are various opinions about Christ
among the hearers of the gospel. The profane world look upon him as a severe
and tyrannical master, and therefore "they will not have this man to reign over
them." They say unto the Almighty, "Depart from us." Again; carnal, lukewarm
professors, "see no form nor comeliness in him, why he should be desired:" and
therefore they are ready to say with the daughters of Jerusalem, "What is thy
beloved more than another beloved?" They cannot see any engaging excellency in
the King of Zion. But it is otherwise with the believer: the glory and beauty
of Christ darken all created excellency in his eye; his language is, "Whom have
I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee."
He is the apple-tree among the trees of the wood; the standard-bearer among ten
thousand.
3. On the believer's part, this holding of Christ supposes a fear
of losing him, or of being deprived of his company. The soul that has met with
Christ, is afraid of a parting. It is true, the believer has no ground to fear
the loss of Christ's real and gracious presence; for the union between Christ
and him is indissoluble; that promise can never fail, "I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee." But as for his conscious and comfortable presence, they both
may, and frequently do lose it; the child of light many times walks in
darkness. Now, it is the loss of this presence of Christ that the soul fears,
when it is concerned to hold or bind the King in the galleries. Neither is this
a fear of despondency, but a fear of activity and diligence.
4. It supposes
a seeming willingness in Christ to withdraw from his people after their
sweetest enjoyments. Many times Christ's carriage in his dispensations towards
his people seems to have a language much like that to Jacob, when he said to
him, Let me go; or like his carriage towards the two disciples going to Emmaus,
he made as if he would leave their company, and go on in his way. And his
carriage seems to have this language, especially when he challenges them for
bad treatment they have formerly given him, when he lets loose the tempter to
buffet them after signal warnings, or when he tries them with sharp troubles
and afflictions, in all these cases he seems as it were to be turning about the
face of his throne from them.
5. It implies a holy solicitude, and earnest
desire of soul, to have his presence continued. When Christ is hiding, there is
nothing the believer desires more than his return: "O that I knew where I might
find him!" And when they have found him, there is nothing they desire more than
to keep his company, or that he would not be any more to them "as a stranger,
or way-faring man." O says the soul, when it gets a meeting with the Lord
Jesus, "A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night
betwixt my breasts," Cant. 1:13. As if she had said, 'If he will stay with me,
I will deny him nothing I can afford; I will entertain him with the highest
evidences of cordial affection.'
6. It implies an ardent breathing of soul
after more and more nearness to Christ and farther discoveries of him. There is
not such a high discovery of Christ attainable in this life, but there is
always a step beyond it. The believer would always have more of Christ, Cant.
2:5. The spouse there is brought into the banqueting-house, and allowed to
feast and feed liberally upon the Redeemer's love, and to sit down under his
displayed banner: and yet at that very instant she cries out, "Stay me with
flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love." As if he had said,
'Let me lie down among these comforts; let me roll myself perpetually among the
blessed apples of the tree of life.' They who have got so much of Christ as to
be tired of his company, never knew what his presence was.
7. It implies a
firm resolution not to part with his company: "I held him," says the spouse,
"and would not let him go," Song, 3:4. The like we see in Jacob, "I will not
let thee go, except thou bless me;" that is, I am resolved, that thou and I
shall not part, cost what it will. 8. It implies a cleaving or attaching
oneself to Christ with the whole strength and vigour of the soul. Quest.
How, or in what does the soul put forth its strength in cleaving to Christ? I
answer, it does it by these three especially. 1st, By the lively exercise of
faith. Hence faith is called a laying hold of Christ, and a cleaving to him, as
Barnabas exhorts the Christians at Antioch to "cleave unto the Lord with full
purpose of heart." The poor soul says to Christ in this case, as Ruth did to
Naomi, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee:
for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy
people shall be my people, and thy God my God." An instance of this cleaving to
Christ we have in the Canaanitish woman; she, as it were, clasps about him, and
will by no means let go her hold, notwithstanding all repulses.
2dly, The
soul binds or holds Christ in the galleries by sincere and ardent love. Love is
a very uniting affection; by this one soul cleaves to another. As Shechem's
soul did cleave to Dinah, and Jonathan's to David; so by love the soul cleaves
to Christ: and this is a cord that cannot be easily broken; Cant. 8:7: "Many
waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give
all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned." See
for this also, Rom. 8:35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
&c. 3dly, The soul cleaves to Christ by fervent and ardent prayer, Jacob
held the Angel of the covenant, and would not let him go: Hos. 12:3, 4: "By his
strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and
prevailed: for he wept and made supplication unto him. -The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man" has a strange prevalence with Christ; it offers a
holy kind of violence to him; and so binds him in the galleries that he cannot
depart. Thus, you see what it implies on the believer's part.
Secondly,
What does it imply on Christ's part, The King is held in the galleries? 1. It
implies amazing grace and condescension toward the work of his own hands: "He
humbleth himself," even when he "beholds the things that are in heaven:" much
more when he bows the heavens, and walks with his people in the galleries of
ordinances; and yet more when he is held by them in the galleries. This is such
strange condescension, that Solomon, the greatest of kings, and the wisest of
men, wondered at it; and wise men do not wonder at trifles: "Will God," saith
he, "in very deed dwell with men on the earth?"
2. It implies Christ's
great delight in the society of his people. He loves to be among them; where
two or three of them are met in his name, he will be in the midst of them: "He
rejoiced," from all eternity, "in the habitable part of the earth, and his
delights were with the sons of men," Prov. 8:31.
3. It implies, that there
are certain cords which have a constraining power, to retain him in his
people's company: and they must be strong cords, indeed, with which Omnipotence
is bound. I mention two or three. 1st, He is bound by the cord of his own
faithfulness, which he has pledged in the promise. He has promised, "I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee;" and he will not deny his word, "his
covenant he will not break." This was the prevailing argument with which Moses
detained him in the camp of Israel, when he was threatening utterly to consume
that wicked people, Exod. 32:10, 13: "Let me alone," saith the Lord to Moses,
"that I may consume them. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to
whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your
seed as the stars of heaven." He binds him with his own covenant, ratified with
the solemnity of an oath. 2dly, He is bound in the galleries by the cord of his
own love. As a compassionate mother cannot leave her child, when it cleaves to
her, and clasps about her: so Christ's compassionate heart will not let him
leave his people; his love to them surpasses the love of the most compassionate
mother or tender-hearted parent: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that
she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? yea, they may forget,
yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my
hands, thy walls are continually before me," Is. 49:15,16. 3dly, He is bound to
them by the bond of marriage: "Thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is
his name: he has betrothed them to himself in righteousness, judgment, loving
kindness, and mercies; and he rejoiceth over them, as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride:" and because of this he will not, he cannot leave them.
IV. The fourth thing was, the application of the doctrine: and the first use is
for information. Is it so that Zion's King is sometimes held in the galleries
of gospel ordinances? Then, 1. See hence the happiness and dignity of the
saints of God, beyond the rest of the world. We reckon that person highly
honoured, who is admitted to the King's presence-chamber, and to walk with him
in his galleries. "This honour have all the saints," either in a greater or
less degree: Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus
Christ." And therefore I may infer, that they are "the excellent ones in the
earth, and more excellent than their neighbour. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honourable."
2. See hence why the saints put such a
value and estimate on gospel-ordinances. David everywhere declares his esteem
of them; "I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine
honour dwelleth. He would "rather be a door-keeper in the house of his God,
than dwell in the tents of sin." Why, what is the matter? The plain matter is
this: they are the galleries where Zion's King doth walk, and manifest his
glory to his subjects: Psal. 27:4: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that
will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life, to behold the beauty of the Lord." I pass other uses, and go to a
Second use of this doctrine, and that is by way of trial and examination.
My friends, you have been in the galleries of the King of Zion; but that is not
enough: and therefore let me ask, Have you been in the galleries with the King?
And have you been holding the King in the galleries? There are many poor
ignorant creatures, who, if they get a token, and win to a communion-table,
think all is right and clear between God and them; like the harlot, Prov. 7:14:
"Peace-offerings are with me; this day have I paid my vows" But, Oh, sirs,
remember, folk may win in to the outer galleries of ordinances, and never win
in to the inner gallery of communion with the Lord Jesus. For your trial as to
this matter, I shall only propose a few questions to you.
Quest. 1. What
did you hear in the galleries? What said the King to you? For, as I told you,
the galleries of ordinances are the places of audience, where the King of Zion
converses with his people. And readily, if he has spoken with you, you will
remember what he said; for he "speaks as never man spake; he has the tongue of
the learned, and his words are as goads, and as nails fastened in a sure
place." The spouse, we find, had been in the chamber of presence, and in the
banqueting-house; she tells that the King spake with her, and she remembers
what he said, Cant. 2:10: "My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my
love, my fair one, and come away."
So then, did the King speak with you in
the galleries? Did he speak a word of conviction, or a word of comfort, a word
of peace, or a word of consolation? Or whatever it be. Quest. How shall I know
that it was his voice, and not the voice of a stranger? Answ. The sheep of
Christ have a natural instinct by which they know his voice; it has a different
sound from the voice of a stranger; and if you be the sheep of Christ, you will
know it better than I can tell you it by words, When he speaks, he makes the
heart to burn; and you will be ready to say with the disciples, "Did not our
heart burn within us, while he talked with us" in the galleries? His words have
kindled a flame of love that "many waters cannot quench;" a flame of zeal for
his glory; a flame of holy joy, so that you will be ready to say with David,
"God hath spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice." When he speaks, he makes the
soul to speak, whose lips were formerly closed; for his voice "makes the lips
of those that are asleep, to speak." If he has said, "Seek ye my face;" ? your
souls have echoed, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek." If he has said, "Come;" thy
soul has answered, "Behold, I come unto thee; for thou art the Lord my God." If
he has spoken peace to you this day in the galleries, you will be concerned not
to return again to folly; you have been made to say, with Ephraim, "What have I
to do any more with idols?"
Quest. 2. I ask, What did you see in the
galleries? Many sights are to be seen in the galleries of ordinances and
particularly of the Lord's supper. Here the Lamb of God is to be seen, "which
taketh away the sin of the world;" and in a crucified Christ, who is evidently
set forth in that ordinance, all the divine attributes and perfections shine
with a greater lustre, than in the large volume of the creation. Here we might
see the seemingly different claims of mercy and justice, with respect to fallen
man, sweetly reconciled: the healing overture is, that the surety shall die in
the room of the sinner; and thus justice shall be satisfied, and mercy for ever
magnified. Here you might see the holiness and equity of God's nature sparkling
in flames of wrath against him who "was made sin" for you; the sword awakened,
even "against the man that is God's fellow," wounds and bruises him for your
iniquities. There you might see the power of God spoiling principalities and
powers, shaking the foundation of the devil's kingdom, and laying the
foundation of a happy eternity for an elect world, in the death and blood of
the eternal Son. In this ordinance you might have seen him writing his love in
characters of blood; love which has neither brim, bottom, nor boundaries. Here
he was to be seen as the "Amen, the faithful and true witness," girt with the
golden girdle of faithfulness, sealing the covenant, and confirming it with
many.
Now, I say, have you seen any thing of this? Are you saying, "We
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father?" Did any of
these divine rays of Zion's King break forth upon your soul? If so, then I am
sure it has had something of a transforming efficacy with it; according to what
we have, 2 Cor. 3:18: "All we with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory
of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord." Jacob's cattle, you know, by the very working of fancy
in the conception, by beholding the pilled rods, brought forth their young
speckled and spotted. Now, if fancy could work such a resemblance, what must
the eye of faith do, when it beholds the glory of God in the face of Christ,
who is "the express image of his person?" John 1:14, 16: "The word was made
flesh, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. And of his fulness have all we received, and
grace for grace." It is remarkable, that by beholding his glory, we receive
grace for grace. As the wax receives letter for letter from the seal, or as the
child receives limb for limb from the parent; so, by beholding Christ, we
receive grace for grace from him: so as there is never a grace in Christ, when
it is seen by faith, but it works something of a parallel grace on the soul. So
then, try yourselves by this, and you may know whether you have been indeed in
the galleries with the King.
Quest 3. I ask, What have you tasted in the
galleries? For, as you heard, galleries are for feasting and entertainment of
friends. Now, did the King say to you, or is he yet saying it, "Eat, O friends,
drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved?" Did he make you to "eat of the
fatness of his house," and to "drink of the rivers of his pleasures?" "If so be
ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious," then I am sure you will, "as
new-born babes, desire and thirst after the sincere milk of the word:" you will
be saying, "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples;" let me have more and
more of this delicious fare. If you have been feasted with the King in the
galleries, the world, and all the pleasures of it, will be as nothing in your
eye, in comparison of Christ and the intimations of his love. O, says David,
when his soul was "satisfied as with marrow and fatness," "Thy loving kindness
is better than life," and all the comforts of life; they are but loss and dung
when laid in the balance with him. If you have been feasting in the galleries,
you will be desirous that others may share of the meal you have gotten; and,
with David, be ready to say, "O taste and see that God is good." You will
proclaim the praises of his goodness, as you have occasion, to them that fear
him: "Come, and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath
done for my soul." And readily it will be the desire of your soul to abide in
his presence, and to dwell, as it were, in the galleries of ordinances. O! "It
is good for us to be here! Let us build tabernacles here," said Peter, on the
mount of transfiguration. That will be the language of thy soul, Psal. 27:4:
"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the
Lord, and to inquire in his temple." So much for a use of trial.
Use third
may be in a short word directed to two or three sorts of persons. 1. To you who
know nothing of this doctrine, never met with the King in the galleries. 2. To
you who have had a comfortable meeting with him. 3. To those who perhaps are
complaining, "I sought him, but I found him not."
First, To you who never
yet knew what it was to have a meeting with Zion's King in the galleries of
gospel-ordinances; and perhaps, Gallio-like, you "care for none of these
things." To you I shall only say, 1. Your condition is truly sad and
lamentable, beyond expression or imagination. You are "aliens to Israel's
commonwealth, strangers to the covenant of promise, without God, without
Christ, and without hope in the world. You are in the gall of bitterness, and
in the bond of iniquity;" under the curse of God, and condemnation of the law,
and absolute power of Satan, "who rules in the children of disobedience." You
are lying within the sea-mark of God's wrath; and if you die in this condition,
you will drink the dregs of the cup of his indignation through all eternity.
2. If you have in this case adventured to the galleries of a
communion-table, you have run a very dreadful risk. You have adventured to the
King's presence without his warrant, and without the wedding-garment of imputed
righteousness, or of inherent holiness; and therefore have run the risk of
being bound, hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness: you have been "eating
and drinking judgment" to your own souls, and are "guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord." And therefore,
3. For the Lord's sake, let me beseech you to
repent of your wickedness. Flee out of your lost and miserable condition, flee
to "the horns of the altar." We declare to you, that there is yet "hope in
Israel concerning" you. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon
him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon," Is. 55:7. Secondly, A
second sort of persons are those who have this day had a meeting with Zion's
King in the galleries of ordinances. I shall only offer a word of exhortation
to you, and of advice.
I. A word of exhortation. Have you met with the King
in the galleries? O then be exhorted to hold him, and bind him in the
galleries; take him with you from the more open and solemn galleries of public
ordinances, to the more private and secret galleries of prayer, meditation,
conference, and the like: follow the spouse's practice when she found him; "she
held him, and would not let him go, until she had brought him into her mother's
house, and into the chamber of her that conceived her." To engage you to hold
him, take these motives:
Mot. 1. Consider his invaluable worth and
excellency: The tongues of angels, let be of men, do but falter and stammer
when they speak of him. His worth is best known by the character he gives of
himself in his word. View him absolutely in himself; he is "the only begotten
or the Father, the mighty God, the Prince of peace." View him comparatively; he
is "fairer than the children of men, as the apple tree among the trees of the
wood; the standard-bearer among ten thousand." View him in his relations; he is
thy Head, thy Husband, thy Friend, thy Father, thy elder Brother, thy Surety,
Shepherd, and Redeemer; and, in a word, he is all and in all. And should not
this make you to hold him?
Mot. 2. Consider, that thy happiness, believer,
lies in the enjoyment of him. What is it, do you think, that constitutes the
happiness of heaven through eternity? It is Christ's presence, a Mediator, the
King of Zion, manifesting his heart-charming beauty to saints and angels
through eternity. And what is it that raises the poor soul to the very suburbs
of glory while in the wilderness? It is Christ manifesting himself in a
sensible way to the soul: O this, this it is that fills the soul with "Joy
unspeakable, and full of glory!" The advantages that attend his presence with
the soul are great and glorious. A cabinet of counsel attends his presence: he
brings light with him; and no wonder, for he is "the Sun of righteousness:"
"the veil and face of the covering" is rent when Christ comes, and darkness is
turned into light. His presence has a mighty influence upon the believer's work
in the wilderness; the believer then "rides upon the high places of the earth,
and is fed with the heritage of Jacob;" he runs swiftly "like the chariots of
Amminadib." His presence inspires with courage and strength: it makes "the
feeble soul as David, and David as the angel of God; it gives power to the
faint, and increases strength to them that have no might." The soldier fights
with courage when his captain is at hand. The poor believer is not afraid to
encounter the king of terrors himself, when he is holding Christ in the arms of
faith: Psal. 23:4: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me." So, let this encourage you to hold him.
Mot. 3. Consider at
what a high price this privilege was purchased for thee. Before Christ could
pay thy soul a visit in the galleries, he behooved to swim a river and ocean of
blood, to tread the wine-press of his Father's wrath. Justice had rolled
insuperable mountains in his way, and these mountains he must pass, and make as
a plain, before he could show himself in the galleries to thy soul. Does not
this oblige you to entertain him, and give him welcome when come? Mot. 4. If
you let go your holds of him and suffer him to depart, it may cost you a high
price before you get another meeting with him. It is true, "his kindness shall
never depart from thee, the covenant of his peace shall never be removed." His
gracious presence can never be lost; but his quickening, comforting,
strengthening, and upholding presence may be lost: and even this may be of very
dreadful consequence. As his presence is a heaven upon earth, so sometimes a
hell upon earth follows his absence. Job, through his hiding, is made to "go
mourning without the sun;" yea, to such a pass is he brought, through the
frowns of God's countenance, that he is made to cry, "The arrows of the
Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors
of God do set themselves in array against me." And see to what a pass Heman is
brought under desertion, Psal. 88:6,7: "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in
darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me; and thou hast afflicted
me with all thy waves." And again, ver. 15: "While I suffer thy terrors I am
distracted." Let all these considerations, and many others I might name,
quicken your diligence in holding the King in the ga1leries.
2. I come to
offer you a few counsels, in order to your holding the King in the galleries,
and maintaining his presence with you. 1st, See that you keep his lodging
clean, and beware of the practice of the spouse after she had obtained a
meeting with Christ, Cant. 3:5: "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by
the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my
love, till he please." Particularly, there are two or three evils that you
would carefully guard against. Beware of security. If you were paying a visit
to your relation, you would think him tired of your company, if he would fall
asleep beside you. Has Christ paid a visit to thy soul, and wilt thou fall
asleep in his very presence and company? This is very provoking to the Lord
Jesus. Cant. 5:3: the spouse there entertains Christ's visit with sloth; "I
have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I
defile them?" But what comes of it? Christ withdrew, ver. 6: "I opened to my
beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: sought him, but I
could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer." Beware of turning
proud of your attainments. Pride of gifts, pride of grace, pride of
attainments, is what Christ cannot abide with: he "gives grace to the humble,
but he resisteth the proud, and beholdeth them afar off." Beware of
worldly-mindedness or suffering your hearts to go out immoderately after the
things of time; for this is displeasing to the Lord, and intercepts the light
of his countenance; Is. 57:17: "For the iniquity of his covetousness was I
wroth, and smote him: I hid me and was wroth. The friendship of this world is
enmity with God." Beware of unbelief, the root of all other evils, and
particularly the root and source of distance and estrangement between Christ
and the soul; for "an evil heart of unbelief causes to depart from the living
God." In a word, keep a strict watch and guard against every thing that may
defile the lodging of Christ in thy soul. Under the law, God appointed porters
to keep watch at the doors of the temple, that nothing might enter in to defile
that house which was the dwelling-place of his name. Thy soul and body is the
temple in which Christ dwells by his Holy Spirit: and therefore guard against
every thing that may defile it, and provoke him to depart; for "if any man
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy,
which temple ye are," I Cor. 3:17.
2dly, if you would hold the King in the
galleries, it is necessary that grace be kept in lively exercise; for these are
the spikenard and spices that send forth a pleasant smell in his nostrils. Let
faith be kept in exercise; let this eye be continually on him: he is
exceedingly taken with the looks of faith: Cant. 4:9: "Thou hast ravished my
heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine
eyes, with one chain of thy neck." Keep the fire of love burning upon the altar
of thy heart; for Christ loves to dwell in a warm heart: 1 John 4:16: "He that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Maintain a holy and
evangelical tenderness and melting of heart for sin; for "the Lord is nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
And let hope be kept up in opposition to a sinking despondency. Christ does not
love to see his friends drooping in his company: No, no; "he takes pleasure in
them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy."
3dly, If you would
have Christ staying with you in the galleries. you must put much work in his
hand; for Christ does not love to stay where he gets no work. Hast thou any
strong corruption to be subdued? Tell him of it; for this is one part of his
work, to subdue the iniquities of his people. Hast thou no sin to be pardoned,
the guilt of which has many times stared thee in the face? Tell him of it; for
"his name is Jesus, because he saves his people from their sin." Hast thou no
need to be supplied? Tell him of it; for there is all fulness in him, fulness
of merit and Spirit, fulness of grace and truth: he has a liberal heart, and he
devises liberal things. Hast thou no doubts or difficulties to be resolved:
Tell him your doubts; for he is "an Interpreter among a thousand." Employ him
not only for yourselves, but for others. Employ him for your mother church;
entreat him to come unto your "mother's house, and to the chambers of her that
conceived" you; that he would break these heavy yokes that are wreathed about
her neck at this day; that he may "build up the walls of his Jerusalem, make
her a peaceable habitation, and the praise of the whole earth;" that he may
"take the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines," I mean, such teachers
and preachers as are troubling the peace of the church, and obstructing the
progress of the gospel, with their new-fangled opinions. But I must not dwell
on this.
Thirdly, A third sort of persons I proposed to speak to, were
these who are perhaps complaining; that they have been attending in the
galleries of ordinances, and particularly at a communion-table; yet they cannot
say, dare not say, that they were privileged to see the King's face. Alas! May
some poor soul be saying, I thought to have got a meeting with Zion's King, but
hitherto I have missed my errand: "The Comforter that should relieve my soul,
is far from me; and I, whither shall I go?" Answ. I shall only suggest a
word of encouragement and advice to such of the Lord's people as may be in this
case. 1. A word of encouragement. 1st, Then, do not think thy case
unprecedented. Poor soul, what thinkest thou of David, Asaph, Heman, yea, of
Christ himself? 2dly, Although Zion's King may bide himself for a little, yet
he will not always hide, "lest the spirits should fail before him:" Psal. 30:4,
5: "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance
of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment: in his favour is life:
weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Is. 54:7, 8:
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather
thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
3dly, Perhaps the King has been in the galleries with thy soul, when yet
thou wast not aware that it was he. He was with Jacob at Bethel, and he "wist
it not;" he was with the disciples going to Emmaus, and yet they mistook him.
Quest. How shall I know whether the King has been in the galleries with my
soul? For answer, (1.) Art thou mourning and sorrowing over thy apparent loss?
Does it grieve thee at the very heart to think, that thou shouldst be at
Jerusalem, and not see the King's face; at the King's table, and not have the
King's company? If this be real matter of exercise to thee, thou dost not lack
his gracious presence, though thou art not aware; for "he is ever nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart." Christ is at Mary's hand when she is drowned
in tears for the absence of his company, and saying, "They have taken away my
Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." (2.) Hast thou got a greater
understanding of thine own emptiness, poverty, and nakedness? and is thy soul
abased and laid in the dust on this account? This says, Christ has been
present; for he comes in a work of humiliation, as well as in a work of
consolation. Perhaps the devil is condemning, the law is condemning, conscience
is condemning thee, and thou art condemning thyself as fast as any: be not
discouraged Christ is not far away, Psal. 109:31: "He stands at the right hand
of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul." (3.) Art thou
justifying the Lord, and laying the blame of thy punishment upon thyself, as
David, Psal. 22:1,2,3: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou
so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in
the day-time, but thou hearest me not? and in the night-season, and am not
silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." (4.)
Is thy hunger and thirst after Christ increased by thy apprehended want of his
gracious presence? This says that he has been really present, for his blessing
is upon thee: Matth. 5:6: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness." And know for thy comfort, that "he satisfieth the longing soul,
and filleth the hungry soul with good things." (5.) Art thou resolved to wait
on him and keep his way, although be hide his face and withdraw his perceptible
presence? Christ has not been altogether a stranger; no, "he is good unto them
that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him; and is really nigh unto all
that call upon him in truth."
2. A word of advice, and only in so many
words. 1st, Give not way to despondency; argue against it, as David, Psal.
42:5: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance."
2dly, See that you justify God, and beware of charging him foolishly. See what
was David's practice, (and herein he was a type of Christ himself,) Psal. 22.
He is under hidings, ver. 1: "My God, why hast thou forsaken me," &c. What
follows? ver.
3: "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of
Israel." 3dly, Trust in a hiding God, as Job did: "Though he slay me, yet will
I trust in him," Job 13:15. This the Lord calls his people to under darkness,
Is. 1. 10: "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of
his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the
name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."
4thly, and lastly, Wait on him in
the galleries of ordinances; hang about the posts of his door. And when you do
not find him in public, seek him in private, and in the retired galleries of
secret prayer, meditation, and conference: and go a little farther, like the
spouse, above and beyond all duties and ordinances, to himself: "He is good
unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. They that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles,
they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." The spouse
did so, and at length she found him whom her soul loved: Cant. 3:4: "It was but
a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held
him, and would not let him go." The Lord bless his word.
Home | Links | Hall | Writings | Biography